This weekend, I committed myself to watching a TikTok live stream, where OzsLive reacted to every episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty in real time. I figured, 25 hours – I can do that. But, you’re asking yourself, why would I want to do that? I wanted to understand what fans liked about the series and what they wanted.
What I learned wasn’t their likes or dislikes when it comes to the series.
You see, I can go on forever about this series. I’ve read the books quite a few times and I know them. I can reiterate lines from the book, tell you things that are or aren’t the books, and much more. That being said though, I find the thoughts of people who haven’t read the book very interesting.
Fandom is an interesting thing. People look at the same thing through different eyes. What we once saw something as can be changed by the way that someone else saw the same thing. It’s interesting and also telling. If you allow yourself to open up to see both sides of the equation, you can open feelings and your look on fandom can change.
When I sat – for almost 30 hours (I fell asleep once for an hour), I not only listened to Oz, but read the comments. I learned a lot from reading the comments. Such as why people like or dislike a character, the things that made The Summer I Turned Pretty, and wanting to belong. I learned about the magic of the moments of The Summer I Turned Pretty and how some moments were inspiring to others.
The livestream never went below 120 people at anytime. Didn’t matter the time of day – people all over the world wanted to take part. It felt like a masters class in fandom (ok, a lot easier than that), especially the TSITP fandom.
PEOPLE LONG FOR COMMUNITY
One of the first things that I noticed from the chat was that people really love having a sense of community. They want to belong to something and have a common ground with people.
People want to talk to others and not feel alone and fandom does that for some. We all have our passions and finding those passions and embracing them, as well finding others that do, makes for a great community.
PEOPLE DON’T WANT AN INFLUENCER TELLING THEM HOW TO FEEL
While a lot of people understand influencer culture, a lot didn’t feel that all of the influencers that are active in the fandom understand the fandom. It’s frustrating to some that they don’t understand the complexities of the relationships, characters, and the ships.
Fandom want people who really know what they are talking about and are able to relate to them. They want them to know a property.
3AM OR 3PM THERE IS FUN TO BE HAD
Staying up for hours on end is really hard. One must be comfortable and also in a position where nothing hurts. But it doesn’t matter the time of day – there is fun to be had. Conversations are fun. Laughing is fun. And hey, when you’re speaking with fandom it CAN always be a good time. Doesn’t matter the time of day.
ENDINGS ARE SOMETIMES PAINFUL
No one is ready for it to end. It actually hurts that we know that the ending is coming and there is nothing we can do about it. However it ends, we know that not everyone is going to be happy. As a matter of fact – you can count on everyone having opinions and when it comes to The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Everyone knows that not everyone will be happy, but also, that’s life and they all seemed to comfortable with that.
JENNY HAN IS A GENIUS
We think that it’s important to realize that a lot of these adaptations don’t have the author involved. They look at the source material and pick and choose. But having Jenny on set, running the show and really knowing the series (of course) and the characters – they all work. They all stayed true to the book, but grew. They were so much more than that.
Jenny Han is a testament to why authors should be involved in their adaptation. They know why people love their IP and they know what their readers want. They also know what they would have added and or what is important.
Jenny Han and her wordsmithing skills are second to only Taylor Swift.
KINDNESS MATTERS
After 30 hours, you would have thought that people would be cranky. Instead they were all supportive of each other. When people wanted to give up, they were there cheering each other on and were genuinely wanted to make friends. They talked freely about being kind, the musical budget, but most of all about how the show had changed them. It was all very sweet, but also showed that fandom can have a difference of opinion and it will be okay.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- On OzLife’s live stream he was raising money for the American Cancer Society and raised 12K. The page is still open and you can donate here.
- Loved how everyone was able to figure out the moment they became Team Conrad.
- The amount of people that reminded others to drink water was great.
- The theories that happen in fandom are epic.
The series finale of The Summer I Turned Pretty airs tomorrow, September 17th.
